1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a lubricating device of a power transmission device for a vehicle and, in particular, relates to a technique that reduces the energy loss due to agitation or the like of lubricating oil that is caused by the rotation of an output portion.
2. Description of Related Art
With respect to a vehicle power transmission device that is housed in a case and transmits a driving force from a driving force source to drive wheels via an output portion, there has been proposed a lubricating device configured such that lubricating oil in an oil storage portion provided at the bottom of the case is sucked by a suction device and supplied to respective portions of the power transmission device and that the oil storage portion is divided into a first oil storage portion at a position below the output portion and the other portion by a partition wall. A device described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-27142 (JP 2011-27142 A) is its one example in which the oil level of lubricating oil is lowered due to the suction of the lubricating oil in a first oil storage portion by a suction device, so that the mechanical energy loss due to the agitation of the lubricating oil by the rotation of an output portion is reduced. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-106599 (JP 2012-106599 A) describes a technique that uses as a suction device an oil pump that is rotationally driven mechanically by the rotation of an output portion of a power transmission device. It is to be noted that “lubrication” in this specification includes not only preventing friction and wear, but also supplying lubricating oil to, for example, an electric motor to cool it.